North Korea Wins Championship Defeating Both Korea and Japan, Broadcast Uses "Korea" Instead of "Goerye"

Reflecting the Stance Viewing Them as 'Two Countries' Rather Than Subjects of Unification

North Korea labeled South Korea as 'Hanguk' while broadcasting a recorded soccer match between the two Koreas.

North Korea's Korean Central TV broadcast a recorded semifinal match against South Korea around 7 p.m. on the 17th, following the North Korean team's victory at the Under-20 (U-20) Women's Asian Cup held in Uzbekistan. Unlike the Rodong Sinmun's reference on the 14th to the South Korean team as the "puppet South Korean team," the TV broadcast only displayed the subtitle "Korea vs. South Korea" and referred to the North Korean team exclusively as "our team" without any mention of South Korea or the term "puppet" in the commentary, drawing attention. Additionally, the TV broadcast showed South Korea's Taegeukgi flag on screen without any mosaic censorship. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 17th, Korean Central TV aired a recorded broadcast of the U-20 Women's Asian Cup semifinal match between the North and South held on the 13th, labeling our country as 'Hanguk' and North Korea as 'Chosun.' However, aside from the subtitles, there were no additional mentions of South Korea. The commentator explaining the match did not mention the South Korean team and referred to North Korea only as "our team." The Taegukgi captured by the camera was left untouched and broadcast as is. Previously, Korean Central TV had mosaicked the Taegukgi during the 2022 Qatar World Cup broadcast.

Recently, North Korean state media have frequently used terms such as 'goerye,' 'goerye Hanguk,' and 'Hanguk goerye' instead of 'Namjoseon'?which implies that the South and North are one people?when referring to South Korea, following Kim Jong-un's directive since the second half of last year to view South Korea not as a unification target but as a belligerent country. The Workers' Party organ Rodong Sinmun also referred to South Korea as 'goerye Hanguk' when reporting on this match on the 14th. Goerye (傀儡) means 'puppet,' a negative term used by North Korea to imply that South Korea acts as a stooge for the United States.

North Korea's Korean Central TV labeled South Korea as "goerye" during the women's football quarterfinal match between South Korea and North Korea at the Hangzhou Asian Games held on October 30 last year. [Image source=Korean Central TV]

Earlier, North Korea expressed displeasure at journalists' use of the term 'North Korea' during press conferences held before international competitions, repeatedly emphasizing that the official name 'Democratic People's Republic of Korea' must be used correctly. Last month, Ri Yu-il, coach of the North Korean women's soccer team, responded to a South Korean journalist's question, "I am curious about where the strength of North Korean women's soccer comes from," by saying, "If you do not use the official country name correctly, we will not answer your questions."

At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, when a journalist referred to 'North Korea,' a North Korean official expressed displeasure, saying, "'DPR Korea' (Democratic People's Republic of Korea). Do not call it 'North Korea.'

Meanwhile, in the U-20 women's soccer semifinal match between the North and South, North Korea defeated South Korea 3-0 and went on to win the championship by beating Japan 2-1 in the final.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.